When the Saint comes, she does not collect food

Chapter 664: Count Kazi and the Sugar Trade
The boundless forest rustled in the evening breeze, and the Moen River, a tributary of the Ibe River, passed through the misty green like a dark blue ribbon.

It was almost evening. Although it was still winter, the southern county of Black Snake Bay was always like spring all year round. People even wore thin linen clothes or animal skin vests.

Unlike the square sandstone houses in the northern county, the settlements in the southern county are mostly wooden houses on stilts because they are closer to the Green Dragon Forest and have longer rainy and humid seasons.

Dozens of stilted wooden houses and long walls made of logs form the most basic form of the Heishewan village.

However, the village where smoke should have been rising from was now engulfed in raging flames.

Thick smoke billowed out from the wet grass and roofs, and was actually tinted with a layer of golden edging under the setting sun.

Next to the stone temple in the center of the village, dozens of Black Snake Bay warriors holding rattan shields, blades and obsidian spears roared and stabbed continuously.

Surrounding the temple, hundreds of armored soldiers and double-paid swordsmen wearing chain mail and leather armor were swinging swords and chain hammers wantonly, while the snake-man servants were constantly throwing javelins.

The sharp two-handed sword slashed across the air, tearing open the animal skins of the Black Snake Bay warriors in the front row, revealing the bright red flesh and white bones wrapped in blood vessels inside.

Every half a minute, a scream could be heard, and a Black Snake Bay warrior would be pierced by a spear or beheaded by a sword, and would tumble down the stairs.

Although these warriors of Black Snake Bay were no less brave than the imperial soldiers, the battle line was still advancing towards the top of the temple at a speed visible to the naked eye.

It’s not that the Black Snake Bay warriors are inferior in martial arts to the imperial soldiers, but a problem with their weapons and equipment.

Black Snake Bay is a poor mineral area with little iron ore output and is almost entirely dependent on imports.

Therefore, most of the Black Snake Bay warriors wore rattan armor, and there were only a few who wore leather armor. As for weapons, they mostly used blunt instruments and thin blades.

"It's so ugly." Count Kazi, the commander, stood at the gate of the village, watching the siege at the temple gate, and couldn't help shaking his head.

On the muddy dirt road in front of him, dozens of captives with their hands tied behind their backs glared at him fiercely. Regardless of gender, age or status, their dark pupils were filled with resentment.

Count Kazi had only a hundred guards around him, but he was not afraid of the reinforcements from the village because there were no reinforcements at all.

In Black Snake Bay, which is fully autonomous from top to bottom, there are simply not enough resources to form a mobile force.

The Great Secret Party, which possessed such mobile power, was trapped in the city by the noble coalition forces of the Lilac Corridor, and the villages and towns outside the city could naturally be defeated one by one.

This kind of scene was the most common during the mopping-up war to attack Black Snake Bay.

If it were within the imperial territory, Count Kazi would not dare to attack a manor of four or five hundred people with just two hundred men.

The biggest difference is that the Imperial Manor can attract many people, while the autonomous village of Black Snake Bay cannot attract many people.

Given the loose state of Black Snake Bay, even if they were to shake it up, they would just be defeated one by one.

The only ones worthy of the attention of Count Kazi, the commander of this offensive operation, are the wizards in the temple.

"Can it be done before dinner?" A monk in chain mail came over, leading a horse. "Dragonfly Harbor has sent a box of parrot-beaked lobsters from the frontier. Duke Portosa is hosting a banquet in the castle. If we're late, we won't be able to eat."

"I want to go earlier, but the wizard in the temple hasn't shown up yet, and the two hundred men I have don't dare to go." Count Kazi put his hands on his waist with a look of regret, and shook his head repeatedly, "Weaklings, why should we fight?"

"After all, they can't survive without fighting." The armed monk also drew a cross on his forehead with great generosity. "May their souls rest in peace."

"Who cares if they rest in peace or not? These captured slaves can be sold for a lot of money." Count Kazi walked over to the prisoners and lifted the chin of a female prisoner with his riding boots. "The tobacco trade has been booming recently, and we need slaves like this to plant and pick tobacco... Hey! Who?"

Before Count Kazi could finish his words, he felt a pain in his toe. He looked down and saw the prisoner, who had a rough face but a bit of wild beauty, with a ferocious look on his face and was biting his riding boots tightly.

After noticing the prisoner's movements, he didn't have time to call the guards, but directly picked up the cane and smashed it hard on the prisoner's cheek. The originally plump lips burst instantly, and three bloody broken teeth flew out. The female prisoner let out a sharp scream and fell to the ground.

Two guards immediately stepped forward and pulled the female prisoner aside.

"Damn it, it's disfigured." He wiped the blood splattered on his hands with a handkerchief with a gloomy face, and tore a piece of rotten meat from the mouth of the female prisoner with regret, "Forget it, give it to the soldiers to play with."

Heavy breathing sounds were heard simultaneously from the array of soldiers guarding the prisoners and the array of the prisoners themselves.

"Thank you, sir!"

"You are truly the best man under St. George!"

"We love you, Count."

The soldiers cheered, and Count Cazes smiled and clasped his hands.

As the border earl of Black Snake Bay, this was the second time that Earl Kazi participated in the mopping-up war. He thought that his son would participate next time.

Because this kind of clearing war occurs every ten or several decades, normally there is only one war for each generation of earls.

According to his estimation, the next time would be ten years later, but the reason for launching the attack now was all because of the bag of sugar brought from Qianhe Valley.

Although the nobles may be short-sighted, they are not fools.

The Thousand River Valley had sugar refining technology, abundant food, closer territories, and even the iron ore that Black Snake Bay desperately needed.

Even a fool would know that Black Snake Bay would definitely choose to ship sugar and spices to the north.

Although Qianhe Valley may be destroyed within two or three years, Qianhe Valley Trading Company will not.

If brown sugar is really allowed to flow into Thousand River Valley, even if the Holy Monarchy of Thousand River Valley is destroyed in the future, sugar will still pass through the hands of Thousand River Valley Trading Company.

So this time, the nobles of Lilac Corridor made up their minds at an extremely fast speed and with unimaginable efficiency.

They learned about this in September and assembled their troops to Black Snake Bay in January of the following year.

As for the goals, there are two. The first is to force the people of Black Snake Bay not to sell brown sugar to Qianhe Valley, and the second is to take over several important sweet branch plantations.

If the royal family's access to the sugar trade is not forcibly cut off, the Lilac Corridor will no longer be related to the sugar trade.

Count Cazes showed a contemptuous smile at the corner of his mouth.

The people of Black Snake Bay had put in too much effort and shed too much blood in the previous Thousand River Valley War, so their resistance was much weaker than before.

If the current offensive continues, we will be able to reach Tiannv City before the rainy season arrives.

The last time they reached the outskirts of Tiannv City was more than a hundred years ago.

"It's poisonous smoke, it's poisonous smoke, retreat quickly!"

"Holy water, prepare holy water."

Seeing the green smoke finally dissipating in front of the temple, Count Kazi smiled and said to the armed monk beside him: "Finally it's out. Now we can eat lobsters in time."

(End of this chapter)